


Positive Results

by DreamsLikeReality



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, Developing Relationship, Drug-Induced Sex, F/F, F/M, Femslash, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Medicinal Drug Use, Multi, Other, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Self-Harm, Undecided Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-03-16 12:32:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3488387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamsLikeReality/pseuds/DreamsLikeReality
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But your scars are healing wrong." AU. Rose has never had any luck with guys or dating, but when she's finally found a guy that she thinks will treat her right, and something goes absolutely wrong? She must deal with the consequences, and her life, with the help of her friends, all while reeling to find someone who will treat her the way she deserves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Date Night

**Author's Note:**

> So, this chapter was originally published on FF.net on September 24th, 2014, which is the only reason why I changed the publication date from today's date (March 5th, 2015).
> 
> I also know that this is a somewhat short chapter, but thankfully the next chapter's a bit longer, so no need to worry. With that aside, I hope that you all enjoy this story, and that you decide to stick around for my other upcoming works. uwu

Rose hurried into the bathroom, getting dressed up and ready for her date tonight. This would be the first date in a long time where she actually doubted that the guy would stand her up, or make a jerk of himself and be a complete douchebag. Rose was actually… excited for this. She figured that meeting at a bar would be alright, and she could always go for the occasional drink or casual smoke after a hard day at work; especially with some of the coworkers that she has. Working in an office had its perks, especially working with three of her closest friends: and they made everything alright. John made her laugh, Dave gave good advice on some occasions, and Jade could always provide something interesting to keep her mind at bay when she wanted to punch their boss.

Rose opened up one of the drawers under the sink, pulling out a small makeup bag, a hair dryer, and a brush. She quickly went through her routine of shaking out her hair, brushing it, drying it, and then carefully applying what she thought she needed to make herself look appropriate for a date.  _'A thin line of liquid eyeliner and almost a nude pink lipstick would do the trick,'_  Rose thought to herself, making sure that her short, blonde mop of a pixie bob was in place. She then pulled out shiny black headband, sliding it into place on her head. Rose sighed, looking herself over in the mirror. "Well," she said, "this is as good as I can get." Rose adjusted her outfit, making sure that her lavender shirt and fitted black skirt weren't wrinkled, before walking out of her bathroom and into her kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water that she had residing in her refrigerator, grabbing her keys and phone off of her counter, slipping on her black small heeled shoes, and walking out the door, locking it once she was outside. Rose stood on her doorstep for a moment, unlocking her phone screen and typing a message to her date.  _'Leaving my place now. See you at the bar.'_  Rose tapped the little blue send button, watching as the message went from  _'Sending...'_  to  _'Delivered.'_

Rose walked down her steps, unlocking her car on the way down and smiling. She couldn't help but feel happy that she finally had what seemed to be a good match, and slid her phone into her skirt pocket. Rose opened her car door, sat down inside, and started up her car before shutting her door and opening up her water bottle, taking a small sip. She closed the bottle, putting it in the cup holder and putting on her seat belt. Rose adjusted her mirrors, and once finished, began backing out of her parking spot to head on her way.

.oOo.

Once Rose arrived at the bar and had found a parking spot, she got out and locked her car, listening to the beeping noises for a conformation that it was locked. Rose smiled, sliding her keys into her pocket to stay by her phone, and walked inside of the bar, instantly being greeted by somewhat loud music. Rose looked around once she was inside, trying to spot her date. Not being able to see him, Rose shrugged it off, and walked towards the counter, thankfully being able to get a seat. She waved lightly at the bartender to get their attention, and ordered herself a drink. A soda, to start, since her date hasn't shown up yet. Rose looked around to see if she could spot him, but there were only people with their dates, or friends, dancing as far as her eye could see. Rose jumped, however, when she felt hands on the back of her head, and sliding forward to cover her eyes. "Guess who?" Rose heard from behind her. She grinned, knowing that voice.

"There you are," Rose replied, grinning once he hand slid off of her eyes and her date came around to her front side. "I've been waiting you know." Her date rolled his chocolate eyes, sitting down on the stool next to Rose, once it was free after a moment. "Yeah, yeah," he said, waving towards the bartender to signal for the same drink that Rose had. "I just got here, so come on, give me a break." Rose shook her head, knowing that it was her turn to roll her own eyes, and did just that. "Whatever you say," she replied, somewhat giggling. "So," Rose started up again, takin a small sip of her soda, "what's the plan for tonight?" Her date waved his tanly skinned finger, shaking his head. "No no no,  _that's_  a surprise." Rose sighed, curious as to what he had in store for her. "You know that I don't like surprises," she replied, eyeing him carefully. He smirked, nodding. "I know that. But, I  _do_  like surprises."

After a numerous amount of hours, once it was finally dark outside and they had grown tired of drinking (mostly soda and water, for Rose, which she thought look somewhat discolored after a point of going to the bathroom and then coming back), eating, and dancing, Rose and her date decided to call it a night and leave the club to escape the crowdedness of the other couples, dancing, and loud music. As they walked out of the building together, Rose felt satisfied. Not the drunk satisfied someone gets after binge-drinking, but more of an elated feeling that her date had gone so smoothly.  _'Well, and the drunk satisfied feeling, too, maybe,'_  she thought to herself, giggling at something that her date had said to her, that she probably didn't hear most of. "Let me drive you home," her date said, walking over to his car and leading Rose to it all the while. "Ooo-kay," Rose said sluggishly, her speech sounding ridiculous. Rose's date opened the passenger seat of his car, lightly pushing her onto the seat, and shutting the door behind her. Rose brought her legs up to the seat, sitting cross legged and feeling how soft, and warm, the leather interior of the car was. Her date entered the driver's side of the car, shutting his door and turning his keys in the ignition, making the car purr. Rose clumsily buckled up, fumbling with it for only a moment before being able to do it correctly.

"Nnno no no," she slurred, shaking her head lightly at her date. "You shhhh-ouldn't be driving, s-silly." Rose's date paid no mind, pulling out of his parking spot. " _I'm_  not the one who's  _drunk,_ " he replied, driving down the street and pulling to a slow stop at the first red light. Rose stuck her tongue out at him, but instantly retracted it and sobered up a bit when she felt a warm hand on her thigh. "U-uh," she stuttered, not really sure what to make of it, "what are y-you doing?" The light turned green, and her date pushed on the gas pedal, propelling them forward and continuing on the street. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "I'm just doing what you secretly want me to do." His hand began rubbing her thigh, and though Rose was drunk, she could easily tell that she didn't want to sleep with him. "Stop," she said lightly, trying to scoot away from his prying hand. Rose's date stopped, obviously aggravated.

Rose carefully slipped her phone out of her pocket with one of her hands, unlocking it while trying to keep the light away from her date's face, in order not to let him know what she was doing. She opened up her messenger, slowly typing a message to her brother-like friend, Dave.  _'On date. Got drunk. Help.'_  Rose tapped the send button, watching as it was being delivered. Rose glanced at her date, and now aggravated driver, out of the corner of her eye. He looked tense, and his knuckles were white as he was gripping the steering wheel. Rose's phone made a dinging noise, signalling that she had a message, and she instantly stopped looking at her date and stared straight forward, tensing up automatically. "What was that?" her date asked her, looking over once the street was clear enough for him to drive without constantly looking at it. "Huh? What was what?" she asked casually, beginning to feel a headache coming on. "You  _know_  fucking  _what,_ " her date spat, reaching across her and forcefully grabbing her phone out of her hand.

"Who's Dave?" he asked while shaking his head laughing, tossing Rose's phone onto the back floorboard. "Another one of your  _boyfriends?_ " Rose shook her head, slowly becoming more and more scared of how he was acting. "N-no," she replied. "He's one of my f-friends." Her date nodded, turning into a parking lot for a local park. "One of your "friends" that you fuck, right?" Rose was taken aback at this. "What? No, he-" "Oh stop it," her date interrupted, venomously. "He's just one of your little toys that you sleep around with, isn't he?" Rose didn't know what to say to this. He was kind on their date while they were at the bar, but what happened between then and now?  _'He can't possibly be upset that I told him to stop rubbing my leg, right?'_  Rose thought to herself, beginning to really feel the after-effects of all of her drinking. She could feel her head spinning, as if she had just gone on a carousel and top speeds. "My head hurts…," she mumbled, more to herself than anyone else as she lightly began rubbing the sides of her head. She almost thought that she heard her date mutter a simple "good" as they kept driving, but she decided to shrug it off.

Rose felt sick. She couldn't tell if it was more of a drunken state sick, or if something else was wrong. She couldn't quite place her finger on this feeling, even as she thought fully concentrated on it. Well, as concentrated as she  _could_  be. When Rose finally looked around, she noticed that they were parked outside of her home. She momentarily wondered how she was going to get her car back to her tomorrow, but her thought process was almost instantly cut off when she felt a hand back on her thigh. "Hey," Rose said, putting her own hand on his, trying to move it away. "No." He shook his head, getting out of the car and walking around to Rose's door. Rose reached back clumsily, grabbing her phone without his notice, and slipping it into her pocket. Her date opened her door roughly, grabbing Rose's arm and pulling her out of the car, shutting and locking it behind her. "Hey, ow!" Rose exclaimed, feeling his iron grip on her upper arm.

Her no longer date, but what she would feel as an appropriate phrase, "raging driver," dragged her along, going up the steps to her door. He dug through Rose's pocket, thankfully the one her phone wasn't in, and pulled out her keys, unlocking and opening up the door with only one of his hands. He pulled Rose inside behind him, shutting the door loudly and tossing the keys onto the floor, locking the deadbolt on Rose's front door. "What are you doing?" Rose questioned, now very frightened as to what he may do. He snarled, pulling Rose into her room after looking for it for a short moment, and pushed her into it, walking in once she was inside and shutting the door behind him. "You think that you can just lead me around while you fuck other guys, but not me, huh?" he accused angrily. Rose shook her head, knowing that she hadn't slept with anyone in quite a while; and the people she  _did_  sleep with were all before she met him. Rose knew for certain that she hadn't had any form of sex in almost a year, now.

"Liar!" he growled, shoving Rose onto the bed. "Stop it!" Rose yelled, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she saw the now evil man in her view taking off his belt, and realizing what he was going to do. Rose tried to crawl off of her bed, in an attempt to get away and to call for help. Call  _anyone_  for help. She was instead grabbed by her short blonde hair, being yanked back to her assigned spot on the bed, and forced to lay down. "Please, don't do this," Rose sobbed, her warm salty tears now streaming down her face. "Too late," he snarled back in reply.

Rose was being raped.

.oOo.

Rose turned over in her bed the next morning, lying on top of purple and white plaid comforter. She could feel her head pounding, as if it were about to explode. Rose moaned, grabbing her head and scrunching her eyes. Slowly opening her eyes, Rose looked around. She glanced at her nightstand, seeing that she had texts from John, Jade, and Dave. Sighing, she slowly sat up in her bed and picked up her phone, looking over her messages. The ones from Dave were all variations of  _'Where are you?'_  and  _'Are you okay? Talk to me.'_  Rose shook her head, typing in a response as she forgot for a moment what all had happened last night.  _'I'm okay.'_  She moved on to the next set of messages, both John and Jade's messages being mostly the same.  _'You okay? Dave told me to message you to see if you'd answer.'_ She also had multiple missed calls from all three of them, although no voice mails.

Rose set her phone back down on her nightstand, and stood up, stretching in the process. She felt sore all over her body, and she flinched at stretching. Rose walked into her bathroom, and almost jumped when she glanced in the mirror, having to do a double take at her reflection. She slowly looked over her face and body, seeing the numerous bruises and small scratches, the most prominent mark being a large bruise on her left cheekbone, right under her eye. Looking over the marks she slowly regained bits and pieces of her memory from last night. She remembered being at the bar with her date, drinking… and some of her drinks being discolored? Rose thought on this for a moment. After a minute, she realized that he had probably drugged her. But for what? Then Rose remembered being dragged inside by him, being thrown on the bed, and…  _'Oh,'_  Rose thought.  _'Oh, no. This can't be happening.'_

Rose shakily lifted her hand towards her face, gently touching the visibly large bruise. She flinched, the bruise pulsing with a shocking pain with the gentlest touch. Rose bit her tongue, taking her hand away from her face and she tried to keep in her hiss of pain. She could hardly look at herself without being completely…  _disgusted._  Rose began to feel sick to her stomach, and she quickly decided that she didn't want to look at herself anymore. She walked out of her bathroom, going back into her bedroom and picking up her phone nervously, dialing Dave's phone number. The phone only rang twice before she got an answer. "Rose? Are you okay? What the hell happened last night, I tried messaging you, calling you, I almost called the police, and I-" Rose interrupted Dave before he could go any further. "Dave, listen to me. Can you come over?" She tried to keep her voice steady, though she could tell she was faltering a little. "Just let yourself in, I'll probably be in the shower when you get over here."

"Are you going to tell me what the fuck happened to you? Because we're all worried sick." Rose was confused for a moment. "All of you?" she questioned. "Yes,  _all of us._  John and Jade came over because they thought that I was going to go off on the police if they didn't go looking for you." Rose sighed, shaking her head, listening carefully as she heard John and Jade in the background on Dave's end, asking  _'Is that Rose?'_  and  _'Is she okay?'_  "Do you wanted us all to come over? I think that they want to see you," Dave asked. Rose thought on it for a moment, but decided against it. If she was going to break down crying, which she knew was likely, she'd rather just do it in front of one person instead of three. Rose knew that Dave would probably bring them anyways, but just have John and Jade wait out in the car. "No, that's okay," she replied, "I'm just… not in the mood, I guess." Rose had to figure out how to convince herself to explain this to her friends, knowing that it wasn't going to be easy. It was quiet on the other side of the call for a moment, before Dave finally responded. "Alright. I'll be over in like 15 minutes, okay?" Rose smiled a little despite everything else. "Okay," Rose replied softly, then hung up, staring at her phone for a moment before tossing it on her bed.

Rose picked out some of her comfy pajamas, a long pair of black and grey pajama pants and a large purple fuzzy sweater with the sleeves too long for her arms, seeing as she was still in her clothes from last night. She then walked into her bathroom, set her clothes down on her counter for her to change into after her shower, turned on the hot water faucet, and began to undress. Rose started with her wrinkled shirt, slowly trying to take it off without making herself too sore, and dropped it on the floor next to a small of dirty clothes. She then unclipped her bra, dropping it in the same place, and glanced in the mirror. She had more bruises, and a very large one on one of her sides where her ribs resided. When Rose began to feel tears swell in her eyes, she looked away, focusing on getting the rest of her clothes off. Once done with taking off her skirt and underwear and dropping them with the rest of the clothes, she checked the water, making sure that it was warm enough.

Deciding that it was, Rose stepped into the shower and turned on the showerhead. She stood under the water for a few moments, soaking her short hair, then reached over and grabbed her shampoo bottle, pouring the fruit smelling soap into her hand, putting the bottle back, and then lathering her hair, cleansing it of any of the dirt or sweat that had been left there from last night. Rose rinsed out the bubbles, a blank look on her face. She traced her fingers over her cheekbone under her eye, wondering how everyone would react to it once they all saw it.  _'Thankfully the one on my ribs will be covered up, at least,'_  she thought to herself.

Rose began to feel the tears swell up in her eyes again, and she let them pour out, not caring if she cried anymore since she was in the shower. She slowly sat down, bringing her knees to her chest, despite the pain, and sobbed to herself, not knowing what else to do as the steaming water poured down on her back and neck.


	2. A New Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10 pages! 10 pages of writing!

Rose felt numb, not sure what to do. She was still sitting in the shower, the warm water beating over her, as she listened to Dave knocking loudly on the bathroom door.

"Rose, open up!" he said, repeating it when he got no answer. Rose knew that she would have to get out of the shower and face him eventually, but she wasn't very sure if she was mentally prepared for that.

' _Of course, I did call him and tell him to come over,'_  she thought to herself reluctantly. Rose sighed, slowly pushing herself off the bottom of the tub, and stood up. She let the water continue to pour down her naked and bruised body only for a moment, in order to soothe her sore muscles, before turning the water off.

From outside of the bathroom, Rose could hear Dave sigh a quiet "Finally…" Rose opened her shower curtain and stepped out onto her small white rug, grabbing a towel from the rack and draping it over her head, shaking it through her hair thoroughly. Once her hair was mostly dry, she wrapped the towel loosely around her body, attempting to dry it without aggravating the purple blossoms or red streaks, now leaking blood a tiny bit, on her skin. Rose gently patted down her body with the soft fabric of the towel, making sure she got every drop of water that she could before getting dressed. Once done, she hang her towel back onto the rack, exposing her beaten body to the cold air of her bathroom.

"Rose, come on!" she heard Dave yell from her living room.

"I'm coming," she replied, flinching a bit at the tone of his voice. Rose slipped on her undergarments, her underwear placed upon her hips and her bra clipped into place. She then stepped into her pajama pants, tightening them to her heart's content before placing her large sweater that she picked out over her arms, sliding down her torso to reside perfectly. And very baggily. Rose opened the door, stepping into the hallway and instantly being greeted by a body and a pair of arms, belonging to Dave. "Ow," Rose said, as almost as if it were a reflex to do so. She didn't mean to let that slip out, even if the hug did hurt.

"What do mean 'ow'? I'm happy you're fuckin' alive after not being able to talk to you all of last night," Dave replied, looking bewildered. It took him only a split second for him to do a double-take on Rose's face, looking at the large bruise under her eye. "Oh my God," he said quietly, "what in the hell happened to you? Was it that prick who took you out last night? I swear to God, I'll fuckin' kill him and rip off his-" Rose interrupted before he could go any further.

"Dave, shush, please. I have a major headache from the hangover I'm sporting. And I really don't want to hear how you're going to rip anything off of his body." Rose knew she was lying, she'd in fact  _love_  to hear about that right now.

"Bullshit," Dave spat, "if you don't tell me what happened I'll go beat it out of the douchebag right now." Rose sighed, knowing that even when she did tell him, Dave would eventually find a way to beat her abuser to hell.

"Fine, fine," she said, walking softly into the kitchen in order to avoid his gaze. As she was getting a cup out in order to get some water, she heard a sort of tapping sound in her living room. Rose glanced back to see what produced the noise, and spotted Dave sunglasses on the table. She knew very well that though Dave felt naked without his dark shades on, but also that when he took them off, it was a scare tactic. To make the people that he's talking to nervous to the point of breaking down in front of the bright red irises. Rose also knew that the tactic worked on her. She turned back around, staring back at the cabinet to avoid his gaze. Grasping a small blue tinted cup, she then closed the cabinet, and pressed her cup against the water dispenser on her refrigerator. Once her cup was full, she walked back into her living room, staring into her cup in order to avoid the heated watch of Dave, and sat down on her couch in order to attempt to get comfortable before  _really_  beginning to talk to Dave about last night. "Would you like the long version of the story, or the short version of it?" Rose asked, taking a sip of her icy water in order to distract herself.

"Short," Dave said in reply, now standing in front of her with his arms crossed. Rose sighed, hoping that he wouldn't have chosen that option, so as to give her more time to avoid the subject. It took her a minute to finally spit out the short piece of information, instantly swelling with tears when she finally did say it.

"He felt me up in his car, dragged me inside, beat me, and… and r-raped me," she stuttered, wiping the sleeve of her sweater over her eyes and cheeks gently. She set the cup down on the table so that she didn't spill her water.

"Dammit," Dave muttered, his hands balling into fists and tightening intensely. "I'll fuckin'  _kill_  him," he said, his face easily showing his intense anger.

"No, you won't," Rose said, trying her hardest not to stutter. Rose knew that Dave meant well, but she really didn't want Dave going to jail, or anything of the sorts. "I don't want you going and beating up this guy so that he can put you in jail or something."

"Oh, please," Dave replied. "I'll kick his ass into next week if he even  _tries_  to do anything to me. And if he does anything to you again?" Dave continued, just getting more steamed as he kept talking, mostly to himself. "I swear to whatever the fuck kind of God is up there that I'll break his legs so that he can't get near you, or get away from me.  _Or_  John and Jade for that matter, when they fucking hear about this." Rose shook her head, knowing that it was no use. She didn't want to continue this conversation right now, seeing as it was just making her even more so upset than she was before. Though, she didn't really know how that was possible, considering the circumstances.

"Dave, please calm down," Rose attempted. She knew that if Jade was here in the room with the two blondes, that she would have been able to calm Dave down quite easily. Or at least try to. "Look," Rose continued, "did you bring Jade and John? They're probably going to hear about this from you when you start fuming again, so I'd rather tell them first." Rose felt nauseous at the thought of having to explain last night for the second time, but she knew that it was inevitable.  _'They're my friends,'_  she thought to herself.  _'They deserve to know. And they're probably anxious to see me after last night, anyways...'_

"Yes," Dave sighed, trying to calm himself down before he snapped and manages to punch a hole in Rose's wall. "They're waiting outside. They  _were_  in the car, but they probably came up to the porch by now to see you." Rose nodded, knowing that Dave was probably right.

"Okay," Rose sighed quietly, hoping to get this over with quick. "You can let them inside." Dave nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration as he took the few steps over to the door. Upon opening it, Rose and Dave found that he was in fact correct, as John and Jade were standing on the porch, eagerly and anxiously waiting to come inside. Rose took the blanket off of the back of her couch, trying to bury herself in it before being pounded with questions. She knew that her friends meant well, but sometimes they could be quite…  _parental_ , was the word. Caring, but also somewhat very much so to the point of a slight annoyance.

"Are you okay?" Jade instantly asked, sitting down next to Rose on the couch and putting her arm around her. Rose nodded and hummed, trying to clear her head of her enormous headache.

"Lying," Dave said quietly, picking up his shades and putting them back on. John closed the door, glancing at Dave and wondering what he could have meant. Jade turned to look at Dave only for a second before turning back to Rose.

"What does he mean?" Jade asked, rubbing Rose's back through the blanket and sweater. Rose didn't know how to word it for the second time, feeling as if her heart was in her throat. She decided not to answer, and simply just take another sip of her water. Jade looked towards Dave, an obvious worried look on her face. John sat on the other side of Rose, rubbing her back just like Jade was doing in hopes that it would persuade Rose into talking. She didn't have the chance, however, as Dave decided to tell them for her.

"That stupid prick," Dave began, "the one that she went out with last night? The one you guys thought was so nice? He fuckin' raped her," he spat, finishing his explanation. "And Rose here won't let me go over to his house and beat his ass up and down the block like I want to, and like he damn well deserves."

"What?" Jade and John asked, both obviously surprised that something like this had happened to their friends. "What do you mean he raped her?" Jade continued, standing up to talk to Dave while John continued to rub Rose's back.

"I mean he raped her!" Dave replied loudly. "He fucked her without her consent, and probably drugged her or got her completely wasted before doing it to make it easier on him! The douchebag was probably planning it from the second that he asked Rose out, since he knew that he'd be her first date in however fuckin' long." Rose could tell that Jade had glanced back at her, probably feeling extremely bad that she said that this date was going to be great for Rose. Rose didn't even know that she was crying, until she felt the stream of a warm tear rolling down her cheek, and John wiping it away with his thumb. Jade sat back down next to Rose while Dave was still standing there, fuming. Rose could almost feel the nervousness radiating off of Jade.

"Did he, um," Jade started, not sure how to ask her question. "You know…  _stay in?_  Did he have some protection?" Jade was never good with discussing things of sexual content or sexuality, Rose knew. She understood immediately what Jade had meant, and she thought about it.

"I don't…," Rose began hesitantly, "I don't know. I don't remember washing… anything, off in the shower." Rose's mind was totally blank. She could hardly remember what she had for dinner last night, much less something like  _that._  Rose saw both Jade and John look at Dave out of the corners of her eyes, and she looked at him, as well. She could clearly see that Dave was absolutely livid. Whether it was with her rapist, or with her for going out with him; she didn't know.  _'If I had to guess,'_  Rose thought to herself,  _'probably him.'_

"You gotta go to the police," John said, contributing the the conversation. "They can bring him in and arrest him for what he did to you." Rose shook her head, knowing that going to the police would only be a stressful process, and might not even be worth it in the end. She knew very well that, in most cases, people sided with the rapist, even if he's guilty.

"I just don't know, you guys," Rose replied. "What if they can't do anything? What if they don't find any evidence that he actually even raped me in the first place?" Dave sighed loudly, sounding aggravated, and walked into Rose's bedroom to escape the conversation for the moment. Rose silently apologized to Dave in her head, knowing that this whole situation was stressing him out very much. "It just doesn't seem like they'll find anything against him.." Rose continued, beginning to feel hot and sweaty under her blanket. She shrugged out from under it, instantly being cooled slightly.

"You have to at least try," Jade said, sounding somewhat desperate about it. "I mean, if you don't, then he's definitely going to get away with doing it! What if he's done this to other women? You could turn him in and stop him from hurting anyone else." Rose thought on that for a moment, realizing that Jade had a good point. But still, Rose couldn't just go to the police without knowing what to say. Or, could she?

"Jade is right," John agreed softly, nodding his head. "If you don't say something, he could hurt someone else." Rose sighed, knowing that they were right. Rose felt a knot in her gut, but ignored it, trying to focus on what they had said.

She wondered on what she would even say when she got to the police.  _'Hey, this guy I know from work that I went on a date with raped me, go get him!'_  No. No, she had to have a better way of doing this.  _'Maybe I can have someone else explain the whole situation for me?'_  Rose thought. She knew that she would have to confirm everything that had been said, and that they would need evidence, but Rose felt that she could deal with that much. "Alright," Rose muttered in response. "I'll go." She saw John and Jade smile softly at her in a silent agreement with her choice. Rose heard footsteps echoing in her small living space, and she looked towards where Dave had gone, seeing that he was now coming out of her room… and with one of her blankets in his hands?

"Think you'll have enough evidence  _now?_ " he rhetorically asked, bitterly tossing the blanket at the three friends.

" _Dave,"_  Jade hissed lowly. "You're not being very sensitive to the situation or to Rose right now."

"You want me to be sensitive?" Dave asked. "How the hell can I be sensitive in a situation like this? Rose was just taken advantage of, and she won't let me go and fucking beat the guy up and down the block!" Rose cringed a little bit at this, and John scooted closer to her, embracing her in what Rose knew he wanted to be comforting to her. She definitely needed something comforting.

"Can you at least not yell?" Rose asked quietly. "You are being rather loud, and it's not exactly helping the situation at hand right now." Rose could see the irritation in Dave's eyes at hearing this, but she decided to ignore it since she knew how angry he was.  _'Although angry probably isn't the most appropriate word for his mood right now,'_  she thought to herself.

"Fine, fine," Dave replied. "But please at least get dressed properly soon so that we can go report this asshole." Rose sighed, getting up from the comfort of her couch and her friends to get dressed. Although she just wanted to curl up on her couch and be comfortable, maybe even watch a movie to distract her, she knew that it was the most correctly moral thing to do.

After finishing her morning routine of washing her face and making herself look decent, she quickly got dressed in comfortable light blue jeans and a tank top, layering an oversized sweater over it to be more comfortable and warm in the cold weather. Rose didn't even bother with trying to do her makeup, not being in the mood. "Alright," Rose said once she was back with her friends. "Let's just go and get this over with."

The four of them walked out of Rose's front door, Dave carrying the dirty garment from Rose's bed as evidence, and shut the door behind them. Not even caring to lock the door, they continued on to Dave's car, each one of them buckling as they sat down. Rose, sitting in the front next to Dave with Jade behind her and John across, looked out of her window. As the car started up and Dave pulled out from the spot he was in, Rose began to actually realize what she was going to do. What would she even say? Although Rose didn't know the answers to the multiple questions floating through her mind, she knew one thing for sure: her friends would be there for her no matter what happened, and would help her explain everything. Even if it meant, for Rose, that she would be sitting there in tears, most likely.

The entire car ride was silent, save for a few songs playing on the radio and the hum of the tires on the street's asphalt. Rose could easily feel the tension in the car, not sure if it was just radiating off of her, or everyone else, as well. She made the guess that it was coming from everyone, including herself. Once they had arrived at their local police station, a good half hour drive from Rose's apartment, they sat in the car for a few minutes, none of them really wanting to go in, nor were they ready.

"We can't sit here all day," Jade spoke up somewhat quietly. "We need to get this done today." Dave and John nodded in agreement, while Rose simply unbuckled as a silent agreement. They all exited the car, nervous as to what would happen, Rose the most nervous, and walked into the police station. Once inside, they all walked up to the front desk, Dave leading the way while John and Jade accompanied Rose behind him.

"How may I help you today, sir?" the receptionist asked, not even looking up from her paperwork that she was looking over. Rose saw Dave's hands clench into tight fists, and she reached up to lay her hand on his shoulder for a second to calm him down, if only a little.

"I want to report a rape," Dave replied, calming only slightly. The woman looked up from her papers, looking over the four young adults boredly. She grabbed a clipboard with a slip of paper on it, handing it to Dave.

"Have the victim fill this out, then go to the room down the hall, third door on your right." Rose, knowing that Dave would probably snatch it from her hands angrily, slipped her arm past Dave to take it instead.

"Thank you," she said quietly as she took a pen with a large fake flower on the end of it, and sat in a chair in the corner of the room. Rose began filling out the form as the rest of her group sat down near her, almost waiting for her to break down or ask for help in filling out the form.  _'It's not as bad as I thought it would be so far,'_  Rose thought to herself.  _'Name, age, weight. This isn't all that complicated.'_ Rose continued filling the form out with the fake flower wobbling as she did so, feeling the eyes of her three friends on her. "I'm okay, you guys," Rose sighed, pausing in her form. "You don't have to make sure that I'm filling out the form right. This is just about my personal information." They all glanced at each other, looking somewhat nervous and embarrassed.

"We just want to make sure that you're okay," John replied, only slightly red at what Rose had said. She knew that her friends meant well, but Rose could handle this part of the situation by herself.

Rose half-heartedly smiled, nodding her head. "I know. And thank you. But I'm okay right now, really." John hummed, not really believing her, but leaving it be. Rose began again with her paperwork, this time not feeling as watched as before. Once she was finished, she got up and walked back over to the receptionist, handing her the clipboard and the flower pen. "Third door on the right?" Rose asked, double checking where she needed to go down the hall. The receptionist hummed in response, and Rose took that as a 'yes.' Rose didn't know if she would rather go there alone, or have her friends with her. She knew that it wasn't that big of a decision, and yet she simply couldn't decide. "Can they come with me?" Rose asked, pointing towards her friends.

The receptionist shook her head. "Sexual assault and rape victims only," she replied. Rose could almost feel the disappointed looks on her friend's faces as she nodded, and walked down the hall, not wanting to look back.

' _One… two… three,'_  Rose counted in her head as she walked. She stopped, looking at the big red door. It had a sign that read: "Sexual Assault and Rape Room - Support and Evidence." Her heart was in her throat once again as Rose reached forward and opened the door, walking in slowly as she peeked inside.

"Oh, hello," Rose heard. She almost jumped out of her skin, not expecting anyone to speak. Rose looked to where the voice was coming from, nervously shutting the door behind her. The woman speaking didn't look much older than herself, slender, was taller than Rose by at least four, maybe even five inches, and had short fluffy, and somewhat pointy in some places, black hair. The most striking feature Rose noticed was her skin complexion, it being a very lightly tanned shade compared to the emerald green lipstick that she bore on her lips. "Sorry if I scared you," the woman said again. "I didn't mean to. My name's Kanaya Maryam, the support group leader for victims of rape and sexual assault. What's your name?" Kanaya reached her hand out towards Rose, waiting for a handshake. Rose could clearly see Kanaya taking a double take on the large bruise under her eye, but decided to not say anything about it.

Rose stuck her hand out after a moment, hesitantly giving Kanaya a handshake. "I'm Rose," she replied. "It's nice to meet you, Kanaya." Kanaya shot Rose a smile, withdrawing her hand once the shake was done. "Um," Rose started up again, "I'm here to report a rape." Rose felt stupid. It sounded more like a question than anything else. Kanaya nodded, still smiling softly. Rose probably figured that Kanaya was trained to have an everlasting smile, especially with what department she was currently working in.

"Alright," Kanaya replied, leading Rose to a small couch with a small footstool in front of it. Rose sat down, getting comfortable on the couch while Kanaya went to a desk, grabbing some papers, forms, a clipboard to write on, and a plain pen. She came back, sitting on the small footstool directly in front of Rose with her legs crossed. "So," Kanaya started, "tell me what happened, when it happened, who the person was if you know them, or what they look like."

Rose swallowed the lump in her throat, and wet her lips in order to make it easier for her to talk. "Well," Rose began, "it happened last night. I was on a date with a co-worker, and during the car ride back her started getting anxious. I wanted to go home, since I started feeling sick, and he offered to drive me. When we got to my place, he dragged me inside and um, s-started to…" Rose drifted off. She didn't want to finish her sentence. She simply watched Kanaya scribble something on one of the papers that she had, probably making something along the lines of a timeline of events for last night. Kanaya looked up from her paper towards Rose, patiently waiting.

"Go on…," Kanaya nudged softly. Rose nodded.

"He um… started getting madder and madder, and eventually lost it inside of my apartment. I just wanted to be dropped off at home, but he was so, just… angry with me. All I remember after that was being hit a few times and being thrown on the bed, then after that… I just woke up."

"Did you do anything after you woke up this morning?" Kanaya asked, constantly scribbling down sentences.

"Yeah," Rose nodded. "Um… I called one of my friends, went into the bathroom, noticed… all of  _this_ ," motioning to her face. "There's another bruise on my ribs too. Then after that I took a shower for a bit." Kanaya looked up at this.

"You showered?" she asked.

"Um, yes," Rose replied nervously. "Should I not have?"

Kanaya shook her head. "That means that you probably just got rid of a good portion of evidence. Semen, a hair maybe," she listed off. "Do you have anything that might have his DNA on it?"

"There was a blanket with something on it. I'm not sure what it is, though…" Rose replied, somewhat disappointed with herself. She didn't even think that she might be washing away evidence when she stepped into the shower earlier in the morning: the only thought at that time running through her head was soothing her beaten and bruised body under the steamy water.

Kanaya nodded at this, looking back down to her paper and writing a bit. "What was his name?" Rose froze slightly, then reached out hesitantly to take the clipboard and pen from Kanaya. She wrote down his name, her stomach churning as she did so, then handed it back to Kanaya. Kanaya read over the paper, nodding when she saw the name. "Thank you," she said, figuring that even just thinking about the man was a task hard to accomplish. "So, um," Kanaya started again, breaking herself away from her train of thought. "You'll have to go to your doctor or gynecologist today and have them give you a physical, just look you over, then they'll send what they find back over to us. Does that all sound okay to you?"

"Yeah," Rose nodded, not sure what else she would say to that. "Thank you." She hesitated for a moment before asking her question. "What'll happen if you find him? I mean, will he get arrested?"

Kanaya paused. "Well," she started slowly, "if we have enough evidence against him he'll be sent to prison. But, with how things go these days, I wouldn't count on him being put behind bars for sure. I know that that's probably not what you wanted to hear, but that's just how things are these days. Men can get away with practically anything, now." Rose's eyes filled with disappointment, although she knew that what Kanaya was saying was true. "But we'll do our best," Kanaya added, seeing the sorrow in Rose's eyes.

"Thank you," Rose nodded, standing up from her spot on the couch. "I'll um, go see my doctor today."

"Of course," Kanaya replied, smiling and standing from her spot as well. "We'll be in touch." Rose nodded, then made her way slowly out of the room and back out to her friends. Once back in the lobby, Rose was instantly crowded.

"So what happened? What did they say?" Dave asked.

"Are they going to arrest him?" Jade questioned.

"Tell us!" John exclaimed.

Rose went from feeling somewhat okay, to instantly feeling anxious and stressed out. She knew that they were only trying to help, but they weren't even close to helping right now with what they were doing.

"Can we just go get some brunch or something?" she asked, trying to ignore them. "I need to go to my doctor and I'd rather do that on a full stomach. Alone, please," she added after a moment. It was obvious that the trio accompanying Rose was disappointed that she wanted to go to her doctor alone; especially since it was something so careful as looking for evidence.

"Okay," Dave replied hesitantly. "But it's going to be a fast brunch. You're  _going_  to that doctor." Rose knew that this was going to be her only small victory today from Dave.

After a quick brunch, consisting of everyone else getting something small to snack on as to hurry up and Rose getting a large plate of cheese-filled eggs, bacon, sausage, and a glass of orange juice, the trio dropped Rose back off at her apartment building. Thankfully, to Rose's happiness, they left as soon as she got to the stairs that led up to her door. Rose took her keys out of her sweater pocket, putting her door key into the lock before jumping when she heard some scuffling behind her. She turned around quickly, looking for a large looming figure, but was met with nothing.

"What?" she mumbled quietly, then looked down after a second to be met with the helpless green gaze of her neighbor's pure black kitten. "Oh," Rose sighed, relieved. "Just you." The small cat just stared at her, flicking its tail back and forth expectantly. Rose wondered for a moment why the small kitten was outside before looking towards her neighbor's door, instantly seeing the eviction notice taped onto the door. She glanced back down at the kitten, knowing that she didn't have it in her heart to take the small creature to the shelter. Rose leaned down, picking up the ball of fluff, and taking it inside.

Once inside with the door shut behind her, Rose set the kitten down gently on her couch, all the while it was mewling with a high-pitched voice. Rose set her keys on the kitchen table, opening her cabinets in order to look for a suitable bowl to fill with some sort of food for the black cottonball. She picked one out, it being more of a bowl to fill with soy sauce instead of actual food. She set it on the counter, quickly finding an old cat food-filled bin from when Rose last had a cat.  _'It's a few years old,'_  she thought to herself.  _'But, it should still be good.'_

Rose scooped up some food with the bowl, setting it down where the kitten could see it. "Food for you," she said after a moment, not sure why when she knew that the small black fluff couldn't truly understand her. Surprisingly enough to Rose, however, the small kitten mewled back at her, carefully jumped down from the couch, and began eating the food. "Well," Rose started, "I guess it's not stale." Rose turned, quickly filling a bowl with some water, setting it down, and thinking of how she could make a temporary litter box. Once she figured out that a cookie sheet and some old leftover litter would work till she could buy an actual litter box, she set out of her apartment, only glancing back to make sure that the meowing cloud was still content and eating before shutting and locking her door.


	3. Lunch Date

Rose sat in the stiff chair in her doctor’s office, looking around the waiting room nervously. Everyone here looked either extremely pregnant and proud, or expectantly waiting with their significant other. She wasn’t sure how to feel. She knew that the reason she was here wasn’t a good one, but she couldn’t help but think.

 _‘What happens if I am pregnant with this monster’s child?’_ she pondered. _‘Would I be able to go through with it? Keep the baby? I don’t know if I can do that. Adoption? Abortion, even?’_ Rose was so concentrated in her thoughts that she didn’t hear her name being called by the nurses assistant.

“Rose? Rose, dear, time to come back.” Rose looked at the woman as she stood. Short, elderly, with mousy brown hair. She was probably prettier than she is now back in her youth. “Go ahead and take Room 4 sweetie, the doctor will be with you in a few minutes.”

“Thank you,” Rose replied, shutting the door to Room 4 behind her. She glanced around the small examination room, looking at the numerous amount of swabs and needles. Rose sighed, feeling a knot begin to form in her stomach as she wondered what the doctor would say. She shook her head, and took her seat on the examination table with her arms crossed. ‘Here goes nothing,’ she thought. Rose got the sudden urge to vomit, and it hit her just how exactly anxious she truly was. Rose sat for almost 10 or 15 minutes before there was a knock on the door, and her doctor entered the room.

“Well,” the smiling doctor began. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

.oOo.

It had been a week since Rose was at the doctor’s office, all with no results. She knew that she had been extremely disconnected from her friends because of everything that had happened. But she felt as if she couldn’t bare to look at them; or rather, have them look at her.

 _‘I don’t need their pity,’_ she thought to herself. However, although she disconnected from everything, Dave had taken the liberty to tell their boss that she had a family emergency, and wouldn’t be back at work any time soon. John and Jade had even supported this story, all the while not bothering to even look at him. While Rose was a victim of humiliation, the trio took it upon themselves to make sure that he was a victim of exile and disappointment, not even bothering in explaining to him why.

Rose sat on her couch, the television providing background noise as she sat and stared blankly at her phone, sitting on the table in front of the couch. She knew that staring at it wouldn’t help with anything, but she didn’t know what else to do. She was hopeless at the moment, and she knew it. Rose took a moment to stop staring at her phone and glance to her side, seeing the small black kitten sleeping beside her. In the week that Rose had been to the doctor’s office, she had gotten more recent cat supplies, and she could tell that the kitten was obviously content and didn’t plan on leaving.

She jumped when her phone began to ring, and she answered the call before she could even look at the Caller I.D. “Hello?” Rose answered. “Doctor Morgan?”

“No,” came the male-voiced reply, “it’s John.”

“Oh,” Rose replied, feeling ridiculous. “Oh. Hi John, sorry.”

“Is everything okay?” Rose could practically hear the concern in John’s voice. “You sound kinda… frantic.” Rose sighed, shaking her head although she knew that the black-haired friend of hers couldn’t see.

“No,” she drawled out, feeling exasperated. “I’ve been waiting for a week for my doctor to call me back, but so far, nothing. It’s just really getting to me, is all.” She could hear John hum from the other end.

“You know what might help take your mind off of things? Lunch. Want to go downtown and find a good sandwich place?” Rose shook her head at her friend, finally breaking a smile for the first time that day.

“Okay. But you’re buying.”

“I had planned on it.”

After deciding on a time, they ended the conversation, and Rose hung up the phone. She stood from her comfortable spot on the couch, and went to the window, looking out at the people walking outside to see what the weather was like for today based on their clothes. She had to admit, Rose knew, that she was thankful for the distraction for the day; even if it was only a small one.

.oOo.

“So they still haven’t even called you back yet?”

“Nope. Not yet, at least,” Rose replied. She took a sip of her drink, thinking about it.

‘It really shouldn’t take this long to give me a call back.’ Rose shook her head, knocking the thought away for now.

“I’m just hoping that they’ll call back soon; I’m getting slightly tired of waiting.”

“I can imagine,” John agreed. “Should it even take this long for them to run the tests and get results? I would have thought that it would only have taken a few days.” Rose nodded in agreement.

They paused their conversation as their waitress returned to their table, bringing their appetizers with her. Once she had gone, they continued, occasionally taking bites from the small heated appetizer plates.

“They might just be backed up and busy with other stuff. I’m trying to not really think about it, honestly,” Rose started. “Besides, they did run kind of a lot of tests.”

John looked at Rose as she took another bite from their food, making sure she didn’t see him staring rather obviously. He just couldn’t imagine why someone would do such a thing to his friend, or to anyone, really.

 _‘She doesn’t deserve all of this,’_ John thought to himself, trying to look busy eating as he watched her. _‘I don’t even know what to say to her. I don’t want to say the wrong thing and for Rose to break down.’_

“John? You okay?”

“Huh?”

“You’re spacing out.”

“Oh,” John replied, feeling stupid as he shook his head. “Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something.”

“What about?”

“Nothing important,” John smiled, earning a small smile in return from Rose.

Once they had finished the rest of their food, and John dropped Rose back off at her apartment, Rose decided that what she needed in order to feel better was some hot chocolate and a movie, or maybe even some knitting.

Rose locked the door behind her as she stepped in, but paused when she stepped on her mail. She really needed a better way to get mail; getting her wet shoes on her bills coming through the mail slot wasn’t the best of things, and she knew it. Rose picked up the small stack, sitting on her couch as she went through them.

 _‘Phone bill, rent, paycheck…what is this?’_ Rose stopped at the last envelope in the stack, looking at it. Rose opened it hesitantly, not sure if she should after seeing that she wasn’t able to find who the sender was. She pulled out the letter, folding it open and reading it slowly, her stomach churning as she did.

_**“My lovely Rosebud,** _

_**I very much enjoyed our date the other night, though you were slightly distracted by your phone. You were simply amazing and divine once we arrived to your home. You truly know how to treat a man.** _

_**While our encounter was short, I do so hope that we’ll meet again soon for another rendezvous. However, I do wish that you wouldn’t see other men until then. It does make it hard to approach you while you’re out and about. You’re mine, my sweet little Rosebud.** _

_**Remember that.”** _

Rose dropped the letter onto the floor as soon as she was done reading it, nervously looking around her apartment. She grabbed the envelope, looking inside for anything else that may have been sent, and instantly stilled her motions. Rose slowly reached her hand inside, pulling out the picture of her and John at lunch today.

.oOo.

Rose sat on her couch still, her knees pulled to her chest as John and Jade sat next to her, watching Dave pace around her apartment. She could easily see that he was trying to hold back his anger and frustrations for her, but somewhat failing.

“Who the _fuck_ does he think he is? I swear to God Rose, if he says another word to you, if he even _looks_ at you, I will not hesitate to break his nose,” Dave rambled. “He’s been fucking prancing around the office like he’s tough shit when everyone knows he’s a pansy asshole who doesn’t do jack squat. I’ll kill him, Rose, I’ll-”

“Dave!” Jade interrupted, shooting him a glare. “Cut. It. Out.” Jade held her gaze with Dave, watching him clench and unclench his fists as he continued to pace as is he didn’t even hear her speaking to him. “You’re not helping right now, so stop it. You’re only making her more anxious,” Jade whispered the last bit.

Dave paused at this, turning his gaze towards Rose. She now had her eyes closed, but opened them every once in awhile when she heard Jasper meowing or purring near her. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He hated the situation that his best friend was in. He hated this situation in general, as it was taking all of his patience, and some of Jade’s, to not completely avenge his friend in the middle of work.

“Sorry,” Dave grumbled, aiming it towards both Jade and Rose. Jade’s eyes softened and nodded a small thanks before turning back to Rose.

“Look,” Jade started carefully. “Have you called the police yet?” Rose shook her head in response, causing Jade to sigh. “You should. I think that going to that group thing would probably be good for you, after you call them.”

“You think I need help?” Rose asked quietly, turning her head a little towards the black-haired girl. Jade could see the little flicker of fear and sadness in Rose’s eyes at her suggestion, and she quickly shook her head.

“I don’t mean it like _that_ , but I just thinking talking about it might make you feel a little more… at ease. Plus, the woman leading the group could probably give you some good advice on how to cope, or to forget about him, or _something_ helpful.” Rose stared at Jade, nodding hesitantly.

 _‘I need to get a handle on things. God, my emotions are everywhere lately. Why can’t I catch a break?’_ Rose thought to herself sadly.

“Look,” Rose said after a moment of nobody talking. “Can you guys just… take this down there for me? I’ll go in later and write a statement, or whatever they need me to do, but I just want to be alone right now.” She could feel her friend’s sad eyes on her, and Rose absolutely hated it. Hated feeling so weak.

“Okay,” John said hesitantly, standing at the same time as Jade. “Just call if you need anything else.”

“And call me when you’re going down there so I can pick you up,” Jade added. “I don’t want you going anywhere alone, and it’s obvious that he may do something else if he sees John or Dave with you.”

“Thank you,” Rose nodded in response quietly. “I’ll text you later, okay?”

Jade nodded, grabbing Dave’s hand and pulling him after her and John as she intertwined their fingers. John rubbed Rose’s shoulder for only a second before continuing out of the apartment. Dave simply followed after Jade, staring at the floor. As soon as the door was shut, Rose jumped off her couch and to the door, locking it and sliding on the chain. It was the least she could do in order to feel safe right now.

Rose jumped when her cell phone began ringing, shaking her head with a sigh after a moment. She knew that she was simply being overly paranoid right now, but still rightly so. Rose stepped to the table where her phone was sitting and picked it up, answering the call.

“Hello?” Rose asked.

“Is this Rose Lalonde?” the voice on the other line asked.

“This is she.”

“This is Doctor Morgan’s office, calling on behalf of your tests and lab results. Would you be able to come in anytime tomorrow to discuss them?” Rose nodded in response before realizing that the person on the end of the line couldn’t see her.

“Yes, I’ll be able to come in tomorrow. Thank you.”

Rose hung up her phone with a sigh, only imaging what tomorrow could bring and mean for her and her future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm so sorry for not updating in a while, but things have been crazy around here. Thankfully, after Christmas break, I'll have no more school and more time for writing! Hopefully. Anyways, I hope you all have a Joyous Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or just happy whatever you celebrate (or don't celebrate), and a Happy New Year! I may/may not be able to upload again before Christmas, but we'll see. :)


	4. Tea Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: This chapter contains small small mentions of self harm.
> 
> Side Note: I jumped around a lot, oops. Filler chapter! (Sort of.) Next chapter, we'll talk more about that letter, Kanaya checks her feelings, and John, Jade, and Dave be good friends. <3

Rose sat in one of the hard plastic chairs organized in the big circle, trying to calm herself down by looking at some of the other women here.  There were six people, not including Rose, and so far she had had no sight of Kanaya anywhere.  Rose took a breath and exhaled slowly, trying to relax.  She knew that Kanaya would be here soon enough for the group session.

Rose had only just now come from her doctor’s office, getting an update on her test results.  Apparently they hired a new secretary, and Rose’s labs had been deleted on accident.  Her doctor reassured her that she would have her test results within the day, and proceeded to take more samples for the tests.

 _‘Thank goodness for that,’_ Rose thought to herself, curiosity eating at her brain.   _‘If I needed to wait any longer than today, I would have gone crazy.’_

“Sorry for keeping you all waiting.”  Rose turned her head, smiling slightly when she saw Kanaya walking into the room with a clipboard under her arm.  Kanaya took her seat as the rest of the women stopped their quiet chatter.  “Thank you,” Kanaya smiled.  “Now, today we get to welcome a new member to our little group.  Rose, would you like to introduce yourself?”

 _‘Oh, no,’_ Rose thought to herself.

This was going to be a long meeting.

.oOo.

Once the meeting had finally ended, Rose waited till the rest of the women had walked out of the room, leaving only Rose and Kanaya.  Kanaya was facing away from Rose, putting some papers into her large bag before turning around.

“Oh, Rose,” Kanaya started, sounding surprised.  “I thought that you had left.  Can I help you with something?”

Rose hesitated for a moment, unsure how to continue.  After a moment she simply nodded.

“Is everything alright?” Kanaya asked.  Rose took a deep breath, preparing herself for her oncoming question.

“What do you think I should do?” she finally asked.  Kanaya stared at her for a few seconds with a blank face.

“If I’m-...  If I’m-”

“Pregnant?” Kanaya finished for her.  Rose could taste the bile in her mouth as she nodded.  Kanaya smiled softly, setting her bag on the table.  “Come drink some tea with me.  We can talk.”

Rose simply followed Kanaya to the other side of the room, silently complying.  She quickly took a seat on one of the soft leather lounge chairs that were resting there, feeling somewhat ill.  Rose watched as Kanaya quickly made the tea, the steaming water mixing with the tea leaves in Kanaya’s tea pot.  Kanaya placed sugar, milk, and two lightly floral tea cups on a tray, carefully taking a seat next to Rose as she set the tray on the table.

“Sugar?  Milk?” Kanaya asked, quickly making the teas.

“Yes, please,” Rose mumbled in response.  Rose took the now full tea cup from Kanaya’s hands, taking a small sip.

 _‘This is really good…,’_ Rose thought to herself, somewhat distracted.

“So,” Kanaya started.  “Have you not gotten any results back?”

“No,” Rose replied after taking another sip of her tea.  “I should get them today, though.  Well, I will if the new secretary doesn’t delete the results again on accident.”

Kanaya hummed in response, a smile tugging at her lips as she took a sip from her own cup.

“I can imagine that could be quite irritating.”

“No, _really,_ it’s fine,” Rose deadpanned sarcastically.  Kanaya smiled, shaking her head at the blonde.  “It’s just that… I don’t know.  I never that I’d possibly have _another life_ growing inside of me at this age.  Especially one that came from a situation like _this._ ”

“How old are you?” Kanaya questioned curiously.

“20,” Rose answered, staring into her tea cup.  “Only 20.  I didn’t plan on having kids until I was at least 25, or something.  I just don’t know what I’m going to do if I am pregnant.  I’m not ready for that.”

Kanaya looked over the blonde sitting in front of her as she stared into her cup, taking her in.  She looked younger than her age, Kanaya noted to herself.  Had Kanaya never met Rose before now, and they were complete strangers, Kanaya would have thought Rose was 18, possibly even 17.

“You’ll be alright,” Kanaya said after a moment.  “I’m sure of it.  You sound like you have a good support group of friends from what you shared in the group today.”

“I guess so,” Rose nodded absentmindedly.  “Sometimes they’re just… I don’t know.  Sometimes I can’t handle being around them, like them being near me is going to make me feel all nervous now.  I don’t want them to judge me from now on as a certain way to make me feel better.  I’m not going to completely change just because of this one event, right?”

“I don’t think so,” Kanaya replied, listening to every word that Rose had to say.  “You may change, but not everything about you will.  Right now you’re probably just anxious because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Rose nodded at Kanaya’s words of advice.  She sounded like she knew what she was talking about, that’s for sure.  But Rose couldn’t help but acknowledge the nagging feeling in her stomach, as if she was about to puke.  That, or her heart was going to fall out of her ass.

“Maybe I just need a spa day or something,” Rose thought to herself out loud.  “I could use a massage.”

“I know the feeling,” Kanaya agreed.  “Maybe you should go out with… Jade I think her name was?  She sounds like she could use one after dealing with… Dave?”

“Yeah,” Rose snickered a little.  “She probably could.  He’s just very overbearing sometimes, even though he means well.  I don’t know how she’s in a relationship with him.”

“Different people have different tastes, I guess,” Kanaya shot back.

“Yeah,” Rose said after a moment.  “I guess so.”

The two women sat in silence, unknowingly both looking the other over when not looking.  Kanaya could tell that Rose was uneasy, and Rose could tell that Kanaya was tiptoeing around on what to say to her.  She hated it.  It made her sick to her stomach almost, to know that the people around her didn’t even know what to say.

 _‘Is this how it’s going to be when I go back to work?  I can’t constantly be calling in sick still.’_ Rose thought to herself.   _‘God, if I even_ can _go back to work.  I can’t face him.  I can’t let him have the satisfaction of seeing me wither away and self-destruct everyday when I walk in.  I need to-’_

**_Bzzbzz._**

**_Bzzbzz._ **

Rose jumped slightly when her phone first buzzed, the sudden intrusion almost a welcome one to her currently awkward state.  She quickly slipped her phone out of her pocket and answered, not even bothering to look at the caller I.D.

“Hello?” Rose answered.

**“Miss LaLonde?”  
**

“This is she.”

**“This is Doctor Morgan.  We have your test results back, and I think that there’s something that you should know.”  
**

Rose continued to listen to her doctor talk as Kanaya watched on, trying to hear what was happening.  She couldn’t help it, she knew; it was just a bad habit mixed with the combination of wanting to help.  But judging by the look on Rose’s face after a few moments, added to the tears that were welling in her eyes, Kanaya knew that she didn’t need to listen in to know what was wrong.

.oOo.

It had been four days.   _Four days_ since Kanaya had seen or even heard from Rose about what was happening and how she was doing.   _Four days_ since Rose had left her office after hanging up on her call, not even bothering to look Kanaya in the eye as she left without a word.   _Four days_ since Rose LaLonde had basically dropped off the face of the Earth.  And Kanaya couldn’t help the nagging feeling that was building in her stomach and quickly rising.

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sat at her little desk.  Kanaya knew that she shouldn’t get involved outside of the office, but something was telling her to at least check on Rose somehow.  Kanaya picked up her phone after a moment of debating with herself, dialing Rose’s number on file.

**_Riiing._  
**

**_Riiing._  
**

**_Riiin-_  
**

**_“Sorry to miss you, but it seems like I’m busy at the moment!  Try to call back later or leave a message, and I’ll talk to you then!”_  
**

Kanaya groaned, hanging up before she could even hear the beep from the other end of the line.  Barely even three rings before she went to voicemail -- declined call.  Kanaya sat for a moment, just staring at her phone.  She sighed after a few seconds, squinting her eyes as she opened her drawers and searched for Rose’s file.  This was so unethical.

Kanaya searched over the papers, looking for the emergency contact number.  Once she found it, she smiled slightly.

 _‘Victory!’_ Kanaya thought to herself almost sarcastically.  She quickly tapped in the number, waiting for an answer.

**_Riiing._  
**

**_Riiing.  
_** **  
****“Hello?”** Answered the feminine voice.

“Hello,” Kanaya started nervously.  “May I speak with Jade?”

 **“This is she,”** the voice replied hesitantly.   **“Who’s this?”  
**

“This is Kanaya Maryam, I work as a group therapist down at the police station.  Rose is a member of my group, and she hasn’t shown up for any other meetings, not counting the first one.  Do you happen to know if she’s alright, or if she doesn’t wish to continue therapy?”

The line went silent for a minute, making Kanaya somewhat anxious.

 **“She’s, ah… not feeling too well at the moment,”** Jade replied.

Kanaya waited a few seconds before continuing to talk.

“What do you mean?  Is she ill?”

**“She just isn’t handling things all that well right now with what’s happened.  Look, I need to go, I’m sorry if I wasn’t much help.”  
**

Kanaya opened her mouth to continue talking, but pulled her phone back and looked at the screen when Jade had hung up so quickly.

_‘What in the world was that about?’_

.oOo.

Rose sat on her couch, knees pulled to her chest as she stared at her phone just sitting idly on her table with wide eyes.  She hadn’t even gotten a chance to mention the letter she had mysteriously received to Kanaya when they had last talked.  She couldn’t.  But, as far as her friends knew, Rose had filed a report and notified her endangered safety.

 _‘I can’t do this,’_ Rose thought to herself sadly.   _‘This shouldn’t even be happening to me.  And even if there was some way this situation could turn out okay, I just can’t.  This wasn’t in my plans.’_

Rose closed her eyes and tried to breathe deeply for a few seconds, failing to calm herself down.  She wearily re-opened her eyes, looking towards her bathroom.

 _'Should I?'_ Rose thought to herself.   _‘I can’t let my friends see me like this.  Jade hasn’t even left my apartment for three days because she’s been taking care of me.  Me.  What a burden.’_

Rose stood quietly, hearing Jade rummage through her room as she silently walked through the door and locked it behind her, sitting down gently on the toilet seat lid.  She stared at her hands folded in her lap for a few seconds before looking to her counter, seeing a small music box.  Rose smiled a little at this.  She had gotten the music box on her thirteenth birthday from her mother, and although it was appreciated, she had never really used it for much of her jewelry.

Rose opened the small music box, quickly shutting off the music so Jade wouldn’t overhear, and began emptying out it’s contents.  Necklaces, a few pairs of earrings, and-

 _‘Ah,’_ Rose thought to herself after a moment.  She slowly picked the small metallic rectangle from the box, quickly filling it back up with jewelry and shutting it, putting it in it’s rightful place on the bathroom counter.

.oOo.

Jade sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and squinting down at her phone.  She honestly hadn’t expected Kanaya to call to check on Rose, she just assumed it would be an automatic message, almost like an appointment reminder.  But no, of course not!  Kanaya had called herself to check in.

Jade shook her head, clearing it of her thoughts, and shoved her phone back into her pants pocket.  She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, calming her nerves.

“Rose!” Jade called from the bedroom.  “What do you want to do for lunch?  We can always make that beef stroganoff recipe that you wanted to try out!   _Or,_ we could actually go _out,_ ” Jade mumbled the last part to, she knew, herself.  After waiting a few seconds and hearing nothing, Jade poked her head around the doorway, being met with the sight of an empty couch.

“Rose?” Jade called again, only slightly panicked.  God, she would never forgive herself had she let Rose been kidnapped or something else as equally ridiculous under her care.  She jumped, quickly turning her head when she heard the toilet flush and the bathroom door opened, revealing Rose.

“There you are,” Jade sighed.  “Everything okay?”

Rose simply gave a little smile and nodded as a response.  Something Jade had gotten used to over the past few days.  Though Rose would talk here and there, she was mostly keeping to herself.

“Alright,” Jade said after hesitating.  “Well, let’s get started on lunch, okay?”

Rose once again nodded and walked into the kitchen to begin preparing the food, leaving Jade standing there and looking sadly at her friend.  She wracked her brain, trying to think of something that may cheer her up, but mentally kicked herself when she couldn’t think of anything that was possible at the moment.  
  
_‘Oh, Rose…’_


	5. Chapter 5

“Rose, one of these days you’re going to have to leave the apartment.  You need to get back into the world,” Jade said, looking at a half asleep Rose spread out on the couch.  “This isn’t healthy.”  Rose just kept staring in front of her for a few moments, before glancing Jade’s way.

“I guess that you _are_ right about that,” Rose muttered.  She sighed, throwing the blanket off of her and sitting up.  As much as Rose didn’t want to admit it, she missed being able to go out into the world without being batshit scared out of her mind that something bad might happen.  First the letter and picture from when she was with John, but now she had to worry about another… _thing,_ to worry about.

“Thank you,” Jade smiled brightly.  “We’ll just go get groceries or something, okay?  That’s easy, and we’ll be in and out of the store in no time!”

“Whatever you say, boss,” Rose said, smiling through her nervousness as she walked into her bedroom to get dressed for the day.  “What to wear, what to wear…” Rose mumbled to herself, moving shirts around in her closet in hopes of finding the right one.  She paused as she came across a comfortable dark red long-sleeved hooded shirt, then slipped it off the hanger and onto her bed.  After she had changed into the shirt and a pair of black jeans, Rose walked out, ready to go.

“Shall we?” Jade smiled at her friend.  Rose nodded after a few seconds, almost rethinking her decision.

The pair walked out of Rose’s apartment, locking the door behind them, and continued down to Jade’s car.  The ride to the store took all but maybe 10 minutes, and for the most part, it was quiet (much to Rose’s happiness).  Jade pulled into a parking spot near the entrance to the store, then quickly turned off the car and looked at her friend.

“Are you ready?  You can stay in the car if you need to,” Jade began, “because it will only take a few minutes, and-”

“No,” Rose cut her off.  “I need to do something other than sit in my apartment all day long just being miserable and thinking about things that still have yet to play out.”  Rose sighed to herself.

“Geez, you’re starting to sound a little like Kanaya if she’s anything like what you’ve told me.”

“Tell me about it.  But since you did get me out of the house, you have to buy me ice cream now.”

“Now _that_ sounds like the Rose I know!” Jade laughed at her friend, unbuckling.  “I’ll buy you all the ice cream that they have in the store.”  Rose smiled a little, unbuckling herself and following her friend into the store.  She really couldn’t deny how good ice cream sounded right now.

Rose began pushing a cart, slightly shaking her head and smirking at her friend who currently had her nose buried in the grocery list.  She would much rather just walk around and try to see what sounds appetizing at the moment.  Well, other than ice cream, that is.

They slowly walked through the aisles together, Jade mumbling to herself every now and again.  She raised her head, looking around.

“Is it okay if I go find something really quick?” Jade asked.  “It’s on the other side of the store, but everything else we need is over here.”

“Of course,” Rose slightly smiled.

“Are you sure?  Because we could always just-”

“Jade,” Rose cut her off, “please, just go get whatever it is that you need.  I’ll be fine.  Besides,” she continued, “it’s your treat, right?  I’ll just stuff the cart full of candy.”  Jade shook her head at her friend, a grin on her face, and quickly turned around to walk to the other side of the store.  Rose rolled her eyes, and began her search for something to satisfy her sweet tooth.

_‘Should I get Red Vines, or Whoppers…,’_ Rose thought to herself as she scanned the shelves.   _‘Well, I did say I’d stuff the cart,’_ she shrugged, grabbing two boxes of each.  She looked over the rest of her selections, making a mental list of what she wanted to buy.   _‘Sour Patch Kids, Sour Gummy Worms, and maybe even some chocolate bars,’_ she smiled.

Just then, her stomach decided to growl, and Rose quickly placed her hand over her stomach without even thinking.  Once the growling stopped, Rose glanced down to her hand hesitantly, and slowly removed it.  Rose lifted her hand a little, looking at her palms, and no longer hungry.

“Rose?” Jade called, worry seeping into her voice as she walked back slowly to her friend.  She put her groceries into the cart, and turned around to look at Rose.  “Are you okay?”  Jade waited a few seconds before gently placing her hand on Rose’s shoulder to try and get her attention, only to have Rose jump away.

“Sorry,” Rose said after a moment, glancing to her friend.  “I just…”  God, she couldn’t even breathe.  It felt as if something heavy was pressing down onto her chest, and her stomach churned, making her panic.  “I just need to go sit in the car, I’m sorry,” Rose blurted out quickly, speed walking past Jade and towards the door.

_‘Just breathe, Rose,’_ she thought to herself, keeping her head down and her arms wrapped around herself as she kept walking.   _‘Just keep walking and think of something else.  Think of Japers.  Or even John, or Dave, or-’_

“Rose?”

Rose froze in her spot, only barely outside of the grocery store now.  She had definitely recognized that voice, even if she hadn’t heard it in a while.  Rose lifted her head, turning it towards the source of the voice, to be met with the sight of Kanaya walking towards her cautiously.  Rose could feel a giant lump forming in her throat, and she didn’t know whether to run back inside to Jade or not.

“Are you alright?” Kanaya questioned after a moment, trying to stand back and give Rose her space.  It was obvious to Kanaya that Rose _wasn’t_ in fact okay, but she worried for the younger girl.  And the fact that she could clearly see the panic on Rose’s face was something that she wasn’t pleased with.  “Did something happen?” Kanaya asked slowly, noticing how Rose was holding herself and how her eyes were beginning to tear up.

“Um,” Rose began nervously, “yeah, I mean, no.  Nothing happened.”

“And why is it that I’m inclined not to believe that?” Kanaya sent back after a moment.

“Sorry,” Rose mumbled, turning her head to look back at her shoes.  “I just… I can’t, right now.”  She began walking towards Jade’s car once again, trying her hardest not to look back at Kanaya or to let her tears fall.

Kanaya watched from her spot as Rose went back to the car, getting into the passenger seat and blankly staring down.  Kanaya knew exactly what was happening, but she couldn’t find it in herself to go over and console the poor girl.  She looked into the store, trying to see who Rose could be with, though she knew it was in vain.  Kanaya had never even _seen_ any of Rose’s friends, but she knew that there had to be _someone_ in there who drove her, seeing as how Rose went straight to the passenger seat.

Kanaya looked back at the car and saw Rose still sitting there, but now she was hugging her knees to her chest and her eyes closed.  She sighed, reluctantly entering the grocery store.  As much as Kanaya wanted to go comfort Rose, she knew that she was out of her league with this -- counselors and members of the support group aren’t entirely allowed to socialize outside of the group, and Kanaya knew that she was already overstepping her boundaries with that rule.

Kanaya walked until she hit the candy aisle, knowing that she need to refill her stock for the group, and for herself.  She stopped once she got to the section she wanted to browse, looking the shelves up and down.

“Excuse me, miss?  Could you help me pick a candy that would go good for ice cream toppings?”  Kanaya turned to look at the woman talking to her, and quickly inspected her.  Well, she seemed friendly enough.  But Kanaya could swear that she had heard that voice before…  “I know that it’s kind of a stupid question, but I-”

“Jade?” Kanaya interrupted, mentally slapping herself a second later for it.  “Sorry.  You just sound really similar to a friend of someone I know.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay,” the girl said smiling and sticking her hand out.  “But yep!  Jade’s my name.”  Kanaya shook Jade’s hand, thankful that she hadn’t made a _complete_ fool out of herself.  “Do I know you from somewhere?”

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” Kanaya said, embarrassed.  “I’m Kanaya.  I believe Rose said that you were the one to turn her to the group sessions?”

“Oh, that’s right!  It’s nice to finally meet you,” Jade replied, realization dawning on her face when she recognized Kanaya’s voice.  “I’m sorry about the other day on the phone, cutting you off like that.  Rose has just… been having a rough time, as of late.”

“Yes,” Kanaya began, “I ran into her while she was leaving the store, actually.  She seemed a little distraught.”

“Yeah,” Jade nodded in response.  “I came back from getting something on the other side of the store, and she just had this blank look on her face.  Almost like she was just in an entirely different world.”

“Well,” Kanaya started nervously, “I believe that coming back to group sessions may help, at least if only a fraction.  I just don’t think that she’ll listen to me about that.”

“I’ll talk to her when we get back to her apartment,” Jade smiled after thinking it over for a few seconds.  “She may not listen to me at first, but I can try.  I want her to get better.  Plus, it’s good to see that you’re actually trying to help people, including her.”  Kanaya smiled at this.

_‘Well,’_ she thought to herself, _‘at least I’m not coming off as creepy.’_

“I’ll call you to let you know how it goes.  Your number should still be in my phone from the other day.”

“Oh, here, that was my office.  You’ll probably have better luck calling my other phone,” Kanaya trailed off, digging in her pocket for a moment before pulling out one of her business cards and handing it to Jade.

“Thank you,” Jade beamed.  She was more than happy that her best friend had someone like Kanaya who would listen to her and have _professional_ advice.  “I’ll be sure to call you soon.”

Kanaya nodded, turning to go do her own shopping before stopping and looking back at Jade.

“Oh, and I would go with M&M’s.”

.oOo.

Rose stared at her television as Jade put the groceries that she had bought away in their respective places, trying to focus on the program that was on.  She had no idea what it was, but it was better than staring at a blank screen.

“So,” Jade began nervously, closing Rose’s pantry.  “I ran into Kanaya today at the store.”  Rose glanced at Jade out of the corner of her eye, before humming and looking back to the television.  “She said she saw you on her way in?  She seemed worried about you, you know.”

“Jade,” Rose sighed, slightly exasperated.  “I know where you’re going with this.  Talking about this to a stranger, who I’ve only had one cup of tea with, about all of my thoughts and problems isn’t going to solve anything.”  Jade opened her mouth to reply, but Rose quickly cut her off before she could start again.  “I know that you’re trying to help, and I know that Kanaya probably is too.  Okay?  I just don’t see how it’ll help anything.”

“It’ll give you someone to talk to other than your friends who don’t know what to say!” Jade shot back before Rose could continue.  “It’ll give you closure!  It’ll give you another friend, even!  She’d be able to tell you what to do or say whenever the police bring the bastard in for what he did to you!  Besides, she seemed friendly enough; what could even happen that will do anything _but_ help you.”

_‘As much as I hate it, Jade_ does _have a point,’_ Rose thought to herself as she clenched her jaw.   _‘And she was nice when we had tea…  Damn you, Jade.’_

“Fine,” Rose sighed after a few seconds of thinking it over.  “I’ll talk to her.”

“Great!” Jade exclaimed happily, pulling out the card that Kanaya had handed her earlier.  “That one there is her other line,” Jade said, pointing to it as she gave the card to Rose.  “She said that you’d probably have luck calling that line instead of her office phone.”

“Thank you,” Rose mumbled hesitantly.  “I’ll call her later, okay?  Right now I just…  I just want quiet.”

Jade nodded, smiling.  She could deal with that.  Jade turned and walked back into the kitchen as Rose was staring at Kanaya’s card, quickly pulling out her cell phone and sending Kanaya’s number a text message.

_“She’ll be calling you soon. :)”_

.oOo.

Rose sighed, staring at the business card in one hand and her phone in the other.  Although she _had_ told Jade that she would call Kanaya, she was still a little uncomfortable with the idea.  Though, Jade had left the apartment to give Rose the quiet she desired, so there was that, she supposed.  Rose groaned, putting her face in her hands.

“This is ridiculous,” she mumbled to herself.  Sighing, she lifted her head and unlocked her phone.  She glanced at the card, dialing in the numbers before hesitating to push the call button.

_‘This isn’t worth doing,’_ Rose thought to herself as she tapped on the little green phone icon.  Rose quickly put the phone on speaker and set it down on her table, pulling her knees to her chest to get comfortable as the line began to ring.  Rose tried to steady her breathing a little as the phone rang.  She reached forward to tap on the red phone icon, but abruptly stopped when the other end picked up.

“Hello?”  Rose took a shaky breath, trying to figure out what to even say.  What _could_ she even say?  “Is anyone there?”

“Kanaya?” Rose questioned nervously.  The other end went quiet for a few seconds before Rose got a response.

“Rose?  Is that you?”

“Um…  Yeah, it’s me,” Rose stated.  “Jade said that I should call you.”

“Well, I’m glad that you did.  It’s good to hear from you,” Kanaya responded.  “I was hoping that there was some way that I could help with your situation.  Jade said that you were basically in a different world earlier…,” Kanaya trailed off.

“Yeah,” Rose replied hesitantly.  “I guess that I was just...thinking.”

“Anything specific that you’d like to share?”

“Not really,” Rose began.  “Just having an off day, I guess.”

“Well, you know that Jade is there for you if you wish to talk to her,” Kanaya reminded Rose.  “She wants to be there for you during all of this.”  Rose sighed, rubbing her forehead in hopes of making her oncoming headache disappear.  “As I’m sure Dave and John are, as well.”

“Well,” Rose dragged out nervously, “I don’t think that I want them involved.”

“How come?”

“Well, _he_ decided that following me around to take pictures of me and John was a splendid idea, and even more so to then send me a creepy letter with the pictures inside.  So, based off of that-”

“Ah, I see,” Kanaya replied.  “I’m sorry to hear that.  You always have the option to obtain a restraining order, if you think it would help.  I’ll even file it for you myself.”  Rose smiled at this.  She knew her friends were trying to help, she did.  But it gave her more of a sense of comfort for Kanaya to be helping, considering she knew what she was doing.

“No thanks,” Rose said, still slightly smiling.  “I doubt that it would do much good anyways, knowing him.  If anything, it would be seen more of like a challenge and only encourage him.”

“I understand.  Well, if there _is_ anything that I can do, just let me know.”

Both ends of the phone call went quiet for a few seconds, neither of them knowing that the other didn’t know what else to say.  Rose thought over her options quickly before speaking again.

“We should go shopping sometime,” Rose blurted out quickly, before she could back out.  “Consider it retail therapy.”  Rose knew that it was stupid, but Kanaya did seem friendly, and it may just make them more comfortable with each other so that Rose would have an easier time talking with her.  Plus, Rose knew that she could use another friend right now.

_‘Just say no and get it over with,’_ Rose thought miserably to herself.  Kanaya’s line went quiet for a moment before Rose looked at her phone, surprised with her answer.

“You know,” Kanaya began, the smile leaking into her voice.  “I can never deny a good shopping trip.  Especially if Bath and Body Works is involved at any point in time.”  Rose laughed at this, not expecting something like that to come from Kanaya.

_‘I may not have known her for all that long,’_ Rose thought to herself, the smile still on her face as she shook her head, _‘but that sounds absolutely ridiculous coming from someone like her.’_

“Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

 

**A/N; Aaaaaaahhhh! Okay, now that that's over with, hi! Once October comes around I'll probably be posting more, since I feel weird writing when people are around and everyone will be busy then, mwahahahahaha... Until then, however, writing will get done slowly. But I'm hoping I'll have some more inspiration in the Fall/Winter. I love you guys. :)**


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